Target
by Veronica The Mischievous
Summary: AU, Shanks, a talented, but aloof doctor, is about to get one of his biggest challanges yet, but what he doesn't know is that this patient is a living target...Shanks x Luffy Rating might go up in later chapters...


Disclaimer: I don't own anything from One Piece.

VTM: First Shanks x Luffy story, this on might be a bit of a challenge for me, so please be kind...

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If it's one thing that scares people about hospitals it's the cold, unfeeling atmosphere and being in the care of others, people that you hardly know, and that hardly know you.

Luffy, a scrawny boy, with dark hair and wide, lively eyes, laid in bed staring up at the ceiling. He had never cared much for hospitals or doctors. His operation would be tomorrow, it would be good to be able to move his legs again.

He continued to stare at the ceiling and soon he felt his eyelids grow heavy. Little did he know, that someone was watching, waiting for an opportunity like this.

-three weeks later, at a hospital in another city…-

"What did you say about my nose!?"

The laughter of children filled the air.

"And that ladies and gents is my impersonation of Doctor Buggy!" a red haired man said with a grin.

The children in the room all cheered and begged for more.

"Okay…how about an impersonation of Doctor Beckman!"

"Doctor Shanks!" said a stern voice over an intercom.

"Crap." Shanks said flatly.

"In your office…**now**."

Shanks slumped. "Coming…" he said with a sigh. He then flashed a smile to the children in the room. "We'll have more fun later!"

The children all cheered.

Shanks sighed and trudged to his office. "What Ben? I was a little busy…"

Ben rolled his eyes and gave a sigh. "I'm sure you were…Look, there was an incident at Fuchsia

Hospital…apparently there was a problem with one of their patients and they're sending him to us…"

"And what does this have to do with me?" Shanks asked with a blink.

"Apparently they think you're the best guy for this patient…" Ben began. "Let's just say he doesn't care much for doctors…"

"Problem patient, huh?"

"I guess…they said to be careful with him, he hasn't eaten or slept for a three days now…" Ben explained.

"What the hell!? Is he **trying** to kill himself!?" Shanks said shocked.

"I don't know, they won't give me all the details…" Ben said with a sigh. "As I said before, they think you're the best guy for this job…"

Shanks scratched the back of his head and gave a sigh.

"However…" Ben began. " I have a real bad feeling about this one, be careful, okay?"

"Aw, why Beckman, I had no idea you cared!" Shanks said jokingly. Just then, he heard a loud racket coming from down the hallway. "Huh?"

"That's him now…" Ben pointed out.

Shanks could see the patient through the office window being wheeled past in a stretcher. An oxygen mask was being pressed to the poor kids face, he looked awfully pale. Just what the hell happened? "Where are they taking him?" Shanks found himself asking out loud.

"To the emergency room…" Ben said as he lit a cigarette. "…You'll be dealing with him after he wakes up…"

-Meanwhile…-

Luffy's eyes fluttered opened and closed. His lungs felt like they were on fire, he could feel his body convulse violently. Next thing he knew he was in a room with a bright light, people in blue uniforms with white masks were staring down at him. Luffy's eyes narrowed as he gave them the most deadly glare he could muster. His oxygen mask was then switched with another.

"Now please take deep breaths…"

Luffy's vision began to blur and fade. As his consciousness began to slip he thought back to how this whole mess started.

-Flashback…-

"Luffy! Pass it here! Pass it here!" a tan boy with curly hair called out.

Luffy, who was holding a basketball, noticed this and passed the ball to his friend. "Here Usopp!"

Usopp ran for the ball, but unfortunately so was a smaller boy with brown hair and a pink hat. Needless to say, the two crashed into each other and completely missed the ball.

"Chopper!!!!" Usopp shouted. "I had it!"

"But you were going to miss it!" the little boy pointed out.

"What!?"

"You can't catch!"

Luffy stood there and watched as the two argued. He then shook his head and gave a sigh. "I'll go get it…" He then trotted off.

The ball had managed to go down an alleyway, finally catching up to it, Luffy picked it up and was about to go back to the basketball court.

"So…you failed me…" said a cold voice from the end of the alley.

Luffy blinked. What was going on? Letting curiosity get the better of him, Luffy went to the end of the alley. There he saw a group of men by a large black car. Most of the men were dressed in black suits while another was dressed richly, he had rings on his fingers and a large coat draped over his shoulders, and he had a large scar across his face. The final was a man dressed in street attire, he had a white tank top, black torn up jeans and shiny necklaces around his neck. At the moment, he was cowering before the rich dressed man.

"Mr. Crocodile, sir, please…just one more chance I'm begging you!"

"Sorry…I can't afford to have failures working for me…bad for business, you understand?" Crocodile said with a smirk. "In the meantime I think it's time you went for a little ride…"

With that some of the body guards began shoving the street man into the car. The man screamed and begged but this only made Crocodile's smirk grow into a twisted smile.

Having seen quite enough Luffy tried to back away, but he bumped into a garbage can and caught the attention of one of the guards.

"Sir, there's a kid over there…"

Crocodile looked over and saw Luffy. "Then shoot him."

"B-but sir!"

"SHOOT HIM!"

The guard then took out his gun and aimed. "Sorry kid, it's either you, or me…"

BLAM!

-few days later…-

"So, his kid is our only living witness?" a blue haired man in a red Hawaiian shirt said with a blink.

His partner, a beautiful woman with dark hair gave a nod. "Yes, detective-san…"

"Look Robin, for the last time call me 'Franky'…" the detective said with a sigh.

"He's waking up, detective-san…" Robin pointed out.

Franky slumped. "Oh I give up…" he said with a sigh.

Luffy stirred and his eyes finally opened. "Huh…?" The first thing he saw was Robin staring down at him, giving a small smile.

"Good to see your awake…"

Luffy sat up a little, something then caught his attention, he couldn't move his legs. His heart pounded, and he gave a scared whimper.

"What's wrong?" Franky asked.

"The doctors said that the bullet that you were shot with is lodged in a place that is cutting off the messages your brain is trying to send to your legs to make them move…" Robin explained. "The doctors say the damage isn't bad, and that they can fix it…but it'll take a little time…"

"So I'll still be able to walk?"

"Yes, witness-san…" Robin said with a smile. "You'll be okay…"

"Witness-san????" Luffy tilted his head to the side and gave a confused look. "I'm Luffy…"

"Hi, I'm Franky, a detective…Don't worry, my partner here does that to everybody…unfortunately…But anyway, you're very lucky we got to you when we did…" Franky then flipped up his shades and gave a thumbs up. "But we're even more lucky…"

Luffy blinked. "Huh?"

"Luffy, do you remember anything you saw before you were shot?" Robin asked.

"Waaaaaait! You call **him** Luffy and **me** Detective-san?????" Franky said with his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

"He's much cuter." Robin said simply.

Franky fell over.

"Do you remember anything, Luffy?" Robin repeated.

"Yeah…There was a creepy guy with a long scar across his face…" Luffy said in a serious tone. "When he saw me he said something to a guy next to him…I then heard a loud 'bang' and then I fell to the ground…"

"I see…" Robin said, narrowing her eyes a little. She felt bad for Luffy, the poor boy had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Did you see anything before that?"

Luffy thought for a while. "I…I think I saw him yelling at someone, he had these guys take the person into a big black car…The guy was asking for another chance but he said something about failures being bad for business…"

Franky and Robin looked at each other.

"That's enough to put Croc away for good…" Franky said with a satisfied smirk. "We finally got him!"

Robin nodded. "But…if word gets out that we have a live witness…"

Franky's smirk faded. "Yeah…I know…"

Luffy gave a confused blink. "What is it?"

Both detectives looked at him wearily.

"Uh…well you see…" Franky began. "We've been searching for a living witness for a while…you're the only one."

"So you need my help???" Luffy said curiously.

"Well, yes we do." Franky said while scratching the back of his head.

"Then sure…I'll help in anyway I can."

"You will? Great!" Franky said thankfully. "You're a great guy!"

Robin sighed and shook her head. "To bad you failed to mention that anyone that's tried to testify against Crocodile dies…"

"I quit."

"You can't quit!" Franky shouted.

"Why?" Luffy said with a frown.

"We seriously need a witness!" Franky began to explain. "If no one steps up Crocodile will continue to be free and cause all sorts of trouble! You'd better hope he goes to jail or else he'll hunt you down and have you killed!"

"So one way or the other I'm dead." Luffy said flatly.

"Basically." Robin said with a nod.

Luffy sighed. "Why me…?"

-End of flashback…-

Luffy's eyes slowly blinked open. Everything was blurry at first but then things came into focus. He was in a secluded room, hooked up to more stupid machines. Luffy frowned and gave an annoyed sigh.

"Man you gave us quite a scare there…" said a voice from the other side of the room.

Luffy looked over and saw Shanks.

"For a second there I wasn't sure you were going to make it…" the red haired doctor began to walk over to him.

Luffy then gave Shanks such a cold a glare that'd freeze a penguin.

Shanks suddenly stopped in his tracks. Now Shanks was really good with dealing with difficult patients (most of the time it was a matter of trust if anything else), which was probably why his bosses assigned him to be in charge of this kid. However, from the looks of him, this might be a bit of a challenge.

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VTM: -.-;;; Whew! This won't be an easy write, but please R&R, and if you have suggestions I'd love to hear them! But please, no flames...


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